WASHINGTON, DC (September 8, 2008) -- An analysis of Congressional votes that would have brought America closer to energy independence reveals that Congressmen who consistently aligned themselves with Big Oil voted 61 times this year against bills that would have greatly reduced America’s addiction to oil.

Chief among these proposals were bills that would have increased production of clean energy, allowed Americans to use energy smarter, and pushed all electric utilities to make a significant portion of their electricity from clean energy, a requirement that is proving successful now in more than 25 states.

“The real story is that these people are making political hay with Americans’ pain at the pump. They’ve voted against the real solutions to high gas prices and tried to kill other bills that would have put us on the path to the clean energy future,” NRDC’s Legislative Director Karen Wayland said. “Everyone knows oil is going to run out, we can never drill enough to meet our demand. Many of these proposals would have satisfied our energy needs with supplies that will never run out, like wind and solar, and allowed us to break the oil addiction that is costing us dearly.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.